That's what Nicholas Evans did with his debut novel, The Horse Whisperer, back in 1995. The Delacorte title went on to become one of the fastest-selling first novels in publishing history (the publisher claims "the fastest"), with more than 1.5 million sold in the first year. It was on PW's hardcover charts for 39 weeks and on our mass market list for 42; total in print to date: five million in the U.S. and 14 million worldwide. Stats for his second novel, 1998's The Loop, are less impressive but still significant -- a combined total of 18 weeks on our hardcover and paperback lists, with first-year hardcover sales in the 600,000-copy range. Evans's third opus, The Smoke Jumper, was published August 21 by Delacorte with a 500,000-copy printing. The author's current 12-city tour will wind up in Missoula, Mont., where he'll visit with real-life smoke jumpers (firefighters who parachute from planes into forest fires) who inspired his novel.
With reporting by Dick Donahue
